CytomX expands partnership with Bristol-Myers

March 20, 2017

Thinly traded micro cap CytomX Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTMX) jumps 33% premarket on increased volume in response to its announcement that it has expanded its strategic collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), originally inked in 2014, to include eight additional targets using CytomX’s Probody platform. BMY has selected four oncology targets so far, including CTLA-4.

Under the terms of the new agreement, CytomX will receive an upfront payment of $200M, research funding, up to $448M in milestones and tiered mid-single-to-low-double-digit royalties on net sales of commercialized products.

CytomX says Probody therapeutics are designed to take advantage of unique conditions in the tumor microenvironment to enhance the tumor-targeting features of an antibody and reduce drug activity in healthy tissues. By remaining inactive until they are activated by proteases in the tumor microenvironment, Probody therapeutics bind selectively to cells within tumor tissue with reduced binding to healthy tissue, potentially improving or creating a therapeutic window. Probody therapeutics may also have application in other diseases where proteases are dysregulated in affected tissues.